A railway vehicle is typically installed with a pneumatic-hydraulic converter that converts an air pressure supplied from an air pressure source into an oil pressure, whereby a hydraulic brake is activated using the oil pressure supplied from the pneumatic-hydraulic converter via an oil pressure pipe.
With regard to this point, JPH08-226469A and JPH08-226471A, published by the Japan Patent Office in 1996, disclose a hydraulic brake device for a railway vehicle in which a hydraulic cylinder presses a brake pad against a friction surface of a rotary body such as a brake rotor in accordance with a supplied oil pressure.
By installing a pneumatic brake that is activated by an air pressure supplied from an air pressure source in the railway vehicle, on the other hand, it is possible to omit the pneumatic-hydraulic converter and the oil pressure pipe.
With regard to this possibility, JP2009-162245A, published by the Japan Patent Office in 2009, discloses a pneumatic caliper brake device employing a pneumatic actuator. The pneumatic caliper brake device uses the pneumatic actuator to press a brake pad against a friction surface of a rotary body. Compressed air is supplied to an air chamber of the pneumatic actuator from an air pressure source.